Adagio Waltz
by Gray Cloud
Summary: Claire moves into her new life in Moonlit Ranch, but what will happen to her? Angst which makes you cry. Drama which makes you interested. Humour which makes your sides hurt. Romance which makes your heart tingle. T for mildish swearing.


"_If you live to be a hundred, I want to live a hundred minus one day, so that I don't have to live without you…" – Winnie the Pooh. _

"_It's kind of fun to do the impossible." ~ Walt Disney_

I stood at the abandoned farm, leaning on the sturdy wooden fence that was before it, on a cold spring morning. My attention was completely on the huge farmhouse before me; it looked newly refurbished with new-looking extensions, but the paint was peeling off at the edges, there was even a bay window. There was lush grass from the fence, and it surrounded the house. An apple tree stood in clear view to the right of the house, and there was a small, delicate pond resting beside the tree. To the left of the house, there was a giant horse stable, big enough to hold at least thirteen horses comfortably, it too, looking battered by the merciless weather. Blocking my view of the weed-ridden field, lay a crate, with the red bold words - FRAGILE - scrawled messily over all sides. There were two wooden fences, separating everything; one fence blocked the field, another cut off the stables from the house, so that the house had its private own lawn right in front of it.

A cold gust of wind brought me back from my wandering thoughts. I shivered, and pulled my grey, soft, knitted scarf higher up my neck. The wind played with my blonde hair carelessly and I breathed heavily out making a cloud of mist, which quickly disappeared.

"What do you think of it Claire?"  
I turned to see Chelsea, my best friend for as long as I could remember standing beside me, waiting for my approval. Her baby blue eyes were glistening with delight, and her chocolate hair moved slowly in the breeze along with my own, catastrophe called hair. It was a miracle that she didn't freeze to death; it was cold outside with a chilling wind, which sent shivers down your spine, and what does she decide to wear, the Mrs. Happy-Go-Lucky? Nothing but very short shorts, and a luminous yellow spaghetti strap and a small jacket over that. Me, on the other hand, I was completely covered up, and freezing. I had blue faded jeans on, a pair of black converse, my favourite black and white stripy hoodie, with a grey striped long sleeved t-shirt underneath it, and my grey knitted scarf nestled in my neck. For as much as I cared, she was completely mental, suicidal and waiting for a death wish, which I had opted to give her numerous times.

"It's huge and beautiful Chels. It's like a fairytale rolled into a farm. I just wish Ed and James could've come," I shot a weary smile at her.

"Who needs 'em?" she laughed, looking back at the house, "We're moving on! They can stay and work their butts off. Who's going to care? I'm certainly not. And neither should you! So," she pointed to the house in front of us, "This is your twenty first birthday present. Happy? Everyone pitched in, even Ed and James, as well as your brothers. Don't worry, they were more than happy to pitch in, as well as your dad. We had the place completely refurbished, extensions, state of the art floors, a warm fireplace, and I even bet the dust bunnies are designer."

Two things in that sentence glared out at me, 'everyone pitched in,' and 'completely refurbished.' How much had they spent on me? Even so, my best friend made it feel like I was moving into my own little castle on a hilltop, surrounded by guards waiting to risk their life for me. Too bad there wasn't a prince charming waiting to sweep me off my feet.

"Everyone?" I breathed. So my five older annoying brothers were good for something after all. Too bad it was to help get rid of me from the city, and their busy lives.

"Coming in?" she asked as she lifted herself onto the fence, which seemed the only way to get over, and landed on the lush grass on the other side.

"You had extensions done, but you didn't think to build a gate for this old thing?" I asked following Chelsea's lead. Although we were both average-ish size, we did okay at P.E. at school. That was, until we started playing football and netball and accidentally sending pupils to the A&E, or to the school nurse because of our netball and football skills, either breaking bones, to giving black eyes and bruises. But we always came first at swimming and climbing the climbing frame.

"I never thought of that," Chelsea admitted guiltily walking across the fenced off lawn towards the door leading inside the house. I leaned back over and took my black rugby bag, and pulled it over and slung it on my left shoulder. It weighed a ton, probably because it was holding all my jewellery, phone and toiletries.

I started walking towards the house, following Chelsea. I started looking around more, taking everything in, and the more I watched the grass move in the breeze, and the leaves rustling in the spring chill, and ripples in the pond grow and disappear, I feel in love with it even more, if that was possible. It was like a fairy tale mini garden, snapped out of Cinderella and made for me, right in front of my eyes. All that was missing was a garden swing, but I could fix that sooner or later. Just get an axe, some nails, hammers and WHAM, insta-swing.

I reached the door, and Chelsea stood dangling an old black key from her pampered fingers.  
"Cats?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"They're already inside. Don't worry, it's all under control."

What worried me was what Chelsea thought of 'under control'. There could have been a fire, with the house burning down into ashes and she would probably say that. I laughed inwardly at the thought, a fire behind her and Chelsea would be in a bikini trying to get a tan before it died out. Ah, what a sight that would be.

I took the black key from her; it felt heavy, but comfortable in my hands. I fiddled with it to get it the right way up, and pushed it into the key hole in the door. The door which held a farmhouse but it was my farmhouse, my future home. The thought finally turned into reality. It was mine. I turned the key left and right, and it made deep clunk. I slowly turned the handle, with Chelsea practically breathing down my neck. I pushed the door open; it seemed heavier than it actually looked.

The door swung inwards, so I could see to the other end of the house.

It was massive; the house was open-plan, so I could see my bedroom straight in front of me, but at the back of the house. Where I was standing now, it was the living room and possibly dining room. It was also huge, with real wood floor, giant windows at some of the walls and a huge, white fireplace. At the back right, I could see the black kitchen, bigger than the bedroom. There was a door on the wall to my left, but I didn't pay much attention to it as I walked into my bedroom.  
Chelsea, of course, was smiling her face off behind me.

There was a grey double bed against the left wall, and another door leading off beside the bed. Beside the bed and against the wall was a bedside table with a black digital camera and a vivid pink ribbon tied around it. To the right of the bed, there were huge double, fitted wardrobes with mirror doors. I turned around to face Chelsea.

"Where does this door lead?" I asked her.

"That leads onto your bathroom." She smiled back. I raised a questioning eyebrow at her.

"And, why the heck is there a double bed for me? It's not like I'll be here with anyone," I stated, matter of factly. She started twisting her chocolate curls around her fingers.

"Well, you know, if there was someone, -"she left the sentence hanging. I gave her a stern look.

"You are going to get bad karma for this, just be warned, Chelsea Carter. Just be warned, and prepared," I told her as I walked into the bathroom.

"Oooh, are your spidey-senses kicking in, Claire?" she laughed behind me.

The bathroom was also big, with blue and white tiles. There was a shower in the corner, a toilet and a sink, and a bath separate from the shower.

"Come and look at the kitchen now, you're going to love it!" Chelsea said gleefully as she skipped off out of the bathroom. I followed.

Asia and Toast were on the black counter at the kitchen, both resting peacefully, but their ears pricked as soon as Chelsea flew in. They were both snuggled into each other, Asia's grey fur contrasting greatly with Toast's orange striped fur. It was like Ying and Yang, they both were so perfect together, and it was a miracle that I had kept them alive for so long, since my twentieth birthday. Although it was only my twenty first today, it was still a miracle. They both slowly yawned and stretched, blinking a couple of times to adjust to the lighting. The both meowed, and started heading for the black rug in the middle of the living room. Lazy, pampered pusses.

There was a stove, a fridge, a rather big window above the stove and the counter beside it, and there was a door, probably leading out to the field.

"That's everything, right? So let's get everything unpacked, starting with my CD player, TV and clothes..." I started heading for the front door leading back outside. The morning sun gleamed in, making everything light up.

"Well… Claire…" Chelsea said, nervously. I turned around and faced her.

"Well, since you moved here, and your parents and your brothers, Alex, Damien, Jack, Demetrius, Ben, all pitched in to help you move here?" she asked.

I nodded; how could I forget? They all sent me away to get better because the city life wasn't doing me any good, and the photography business made me all stressed. I wasn't stressed; the coffee just didn't have enough caffeine in it anymore. Which reminded me; I need some more coffee, it was unnatural to wake up at this hour, let alone work.

"Well, we all thought that it would be great if you had some more pets, not just farm animals. Like companions. So we all took the liberty, all five of us, to get you some dogs. Well, puppies, actually, but they'll grow into guard dogs." She smiled, not a care in the world.

She pointed to the door that I didn't pay much attention to earlier.  
"They're in there."

My jaw practically dropped to the floor. Maybe even further; I wasn't sure, as I wasn't paying much attention. What I was paying attention to way the fact that my best friend, and my brothers, had bought me dogs. She actually asked my brothers, the ones who made sure that I knew who was in charge, the ones which continuously wrestled with me, and the ones who would push me into swimming pools. I slowly turned around, and headed for the oak door in the wall, where Chelsea had pointed to earlier.  
I walked around Toast and Asia, who were nestled into the thick carpet and I soon reached, the door, and took a deep breath in. I turned the handle slowly, and pushed the door just a little bit forward.

"I'll just go start unpacking..." Chelsea shouted from outside.

Once again, I pushed it the door a bit harder, and stepped in. I heard Chelsea closing the door behind her.  
The room in front of me was huge; the walls were painted black and blue paw prints were dotted here and there. There was a cupboard to my left, as well as one giant window looking out to the front, as well as a door in the back wall, probably leading to the field behind.

There were five different giant dog beds each accompanied by a bowl of food and water. Strewn across the room were numerous teddies of all sizes and colours. That was when I saw them; the most adorable precious puppies I had ever seen, but they were of course, the only puppies I had ever seen, my mother had an allergy to dogs.

The one closest to the door was lying in one of the many giant beds, but this particular one was grey in colour. Its' ears were pricked up and watching me intently. It was quite large for a puppy; it had a light grey fur with darker grey patches dappled across it. It was also wearing a blue collar, and had a white teddy bear lying beside it.

The next one I saw was pure white, and was easy to see against the black bed it had claimed at the back of the room. One ear was standing upwards at attention, the other dropping over onto its' baby face. It too, had a collar, but a grey one, and it had also claimed a teddy bear, this time a black one with white stars dappled all over it.

The third one which caught my eye was extremely fluffy. That's how I describe it, fluffy. Its fur had grey, black, white and light brown patches all over it, which made it even more adorable, and to top it all off, it had a slightly pink nose. It also had a purple collar and it had stopped and looked at me curiously, as it was holding a teddy leg, and fighting with another puppy to keep it as its' own.

The puppy on the other end, pulled the teddy in it's' grasp while the other was distracted, and won the teddy, but didn't celebrate for long as it saw me as well as the other pups and stood like a rabbit caught in headlights. This puppy was like the first one; a slightly bigger build, but this one was white with black and grey patches, and it also had one ear completely black, the other white with grey randomly splattered across it. This one also had a collar, but this one was black and was almost completely hidden in its' fur.

The last puppy was the one to approach me first; it stood from its' green camouflaged bed and trotted over towards me. It was pure black; a complete photocopy of the small white one, except it was a different colour. It greeted me with soft hazel eyes, as it approached my feet seeking attention. I knelt down, and stroked its' ear gently, which led to a belly rub. This pup had a green collar, which was a neon colour and contrasted greatly to its' dark fur. Obviously the collar was Chelsea's choice. My brothers would have screamed at the sight of such a bright colour.

At the sight of this, the others seemed to relax, and one by one, approached me with courage. Soon, all puppies, five in total, were seeking my attention, which led to me lying on the floor being attacked by the balls of fluff. They were deadly balls of fluff; licking your face and lying on top of you, looking at you with pleading eyes; it was almost too much to bear.

I finally managed to stand up, all five puppies standing on their back feet leaning on my legs. I told you they were dangerous, evil little monsters. Cute and adorable, but evil as hell.

I staggered backwards, and opened the door with much difficulty with repetitive attacks from the small puppies. When I finally did managed to open it, all the puppies ran out into the living room in a flash.

The curiously ran around in circles, sniffing everything their noses could reach. I was going to let Asia and Toast let the puppies slowly, letting them get used to the concept of dogs, but it was too late. The smell that the puppies had been following, led straight to the black rug in the middle of the floor, in front of the fireplace, where Asia and Toast were sleeping peacefully.

The fluffy puppy with the pink nose and purple collar was the first to discover the cats. It ran up towards Asia, and nudged her playfully.

Asia yawned and blinked a couple of times; eyes settling on the curious puppies surround her. She shot up with a fright and headed towards the bay window and sat on the black seat, the scaredy cat.

Two of the puppies followed her; only to give up when they realised the bay window was higher than they could possibly reach. Toast, feeling the absence of his partner in crime, yawned as Asia did moments before; his eyes also resting on the puppies. Only he didn't run for the hills, in fact, he swatted the black one with the bright neon collar on the nose with his paw playfully. The puppy responded by nudging him on the belly. This game went on; five puppies against Toast, and Asia cautiously watching from the raised seat, and me, watching with my gob practically touching the floor. Toast liked dogs?

Toast mewed a couple of times, which startled the puppies; they had never heard a cat meow before. All of a sudden, Toast got up, without a warning, and headed for the window; had he had enough of the pups? Instead of climbing onto it, he meowed softly up towards Asia, reassuring her to come down. All the pups followed their new found friend with enthusiasm.

Asia just lifted her nose, like the great queen she is, and I laughed at her. She has to live with them now; I can't take them back to the store and ask for a refund, can I? And net especially when they are so damn cute! I was expecting giant bulldogs, not these little bundles of fluff.

Speaking of stores, are there any here? I had only been rushed to the farm; I hadn't time to look around. I made a mental note to ask Chelsea about that later.

Chelsea, where is she? The last time I saw her she was heading out to open the crates to start unpacking. I left the puppies and the cats in the living room and stuck my head out the front door, scanning the surrounding place for a crazy brunette.

I found her; she had opened all the crates and was taking stuff out of them and placing them into piles. One thing that I had learnt about Chelsea was she was a neat freak. Everything had to have its' own place and it had to stay there the whole time.

She had got my chest of clothes out; it was black, which was my favourite colour, with baby blue markings on it, which was the result of our art craze. It was lying, closed beside the door, beside my Hi-five system, and my small, pathetic television. It wasn't so small, but it was still pathetic compared to the one my brother, Demetrius got when he was officially kicked out the house. I eased out the door, and Chelsea's head looked up when she heard the door click shut.

"Like the pups? The completely black one was my choice, hold the applause," she ranted on, "Geeze, your stuff is everywhere! I'm trying to find all your toiletries..." and she went back to concentrating on the crate in front of her.

"They're at the bottom," I told her as she dug further down the crate. I didn't have many things in there; just all of this, the wires to go with it, and my chest of clothes.

I picked up my chest and lifted it which made me falter slightly; it seemed heavier than before, much heavier.

"I bought you new clothes…" Chelsea trailed off again She bought me clothes, to what, go with my dogs?

"I hope you kept my old ones," I told her as I tried to open the door one handed, which led to utter failure.

"Ha, found it!" Chelsea beamed a smile as she help up a green and white bag, and a rather large one at that, holding all my toiletries. She looked over at my pathetic attempts to open the door and sighed.

"I'll come," she practically flew over to my side in seconds, with the toiletries bag in her left hand, and with her right hand she opened the door. I practically ran inside, and dumped the chest on the floor in my bedroom, in front of the giant mirrored double door wardrobe. As soon as I dumped it down, I was greeted with furry faces. Damn, cute, fuzzy pups.

I fell over, and in an instant they were all attacking my face, licking frantically. I heard Chelsea laughing from above me.

"Need some help unpacking?" she asked and stifled a giggle.

"Would I ever…" I replied unevenly in between attacks.

---

Done. It was finally done. I shut the door of the closet triumphantly. I had just spent the last couple of hours fixing my closet, while, Chelsea did the rest of the house. The puppies were back in their room, sleeping blissfully. Chelsea said they would sleep for a while, which was a great relief. Chelsea came and sat down beside me on the bed.

"Done." She beamed at me. I owed her big time; she had fixed my bathroom, kitchen and living room in the time it took me to do a wardrobe. She was practically superwoman on steroids.

I smiled back at her, enjoying the peace we finally had.

"The guy who did up your house told me to tell you," she said, crossing her legs, "There is no heating; the only heat you'll get is from that fireplace, which means you have to chop wood and burn them. Also, you have to do that to the boiler outside to get hot water, but only like once a month, which is good."

"I have to chop wood?" I asked, pouting a little. She replied in a nod. I leaned back onto the wall, and sighed contently. My new life was about to begin. I glanced at the alarm clock which Chelsea had wired up. I beamed back with bright green colours, '1:30.' Had we really spent all that time doing up this house?

Chelsea stood up, abruptly, and looked at me. "I can't believe I'm leaving tonight! To the city, for myself…" I smiled at her.

"You'll do great, Chels. Don't sweat a thing; you'll be awesome as a designer." I stood up myself and hugged her tightly, as if it was the last hug I would ever give someone.

"Whoah, bear hug," she stated, pretending to choke. I just squeezed harder.

"Keep in touch, alright?" I told her. "Just send me an e-mail every night through your laptop, okay? We might even msn sometime and change photos," I told her, with a light chuckle, "Send me all the pics of cute boys, okay?"  
She laughed at this, "Only if you do too."

"I'll miss you…"

"I'll miss you too…"

We stood like that for some time, until we finally broke apart, slightly sniffling.  
"Look at us," I laughed, and she laughed with me. It made me feel better, hearing her being happy, and it immediately raised our spirits.

"What are you going to name the pups?" she changed the subject.

I shrugged.

"I'll come up with something, don't worry. And when I do, I'll tell you them immediately, over the phone," I promised her. She took my hand and stood up. She led me through the living room which now had a couch, a television, and a family photo of me and my five brothers. She continued to pull me through and stopped in the kitchen, where there were numerous photos of both of us stuck onto the fridge.

"So you don't forget me," she laughed. I nudged her in her arm.

"I could never do that," I told her, grinning.

We both stood for a couple of awkward moments. This reminded me of something I had to ask her.

"Chels, are there any shops around here? Those pups aren't going to feed themselves," I asked her, and she turned to face me. She stood looking at me, and I could tell she was trying to remember.

"Ehrm, I think so… Yeah, there's a super market… And I think I know somewhere to buy your dog food, and yeah, we need to go to the blacksmith to get your tools, farmer!" she laughed at me.

I was the one who was becoming a farmer and she was turning into a designer. Fun.

"Lets go then, you're leaving at six, which means, we have a good two hours," I told her, glancing at the clock in the kitchen. She nodded and we walked outside, and I didn't lock the door; Chelsea told me there was no need to.

We walked out of the farm, and followed the paved path until there was a right turning. There was a shop right there, 'Saibara's Blacksmith', and Chelsea told me to go and get my tools.

"No-ones going to bite," she told me as she walked down the road to find the dog food supplier. I opened the door cautiously, and the bell above my head rang out merrily.

I was welcomed with a face of black soot, but I didn't cough or anything, I was used to it; it reminded me of home. My older brother, Zack, or when mother calls him when she's angry, Zachariah, used to work on his car day and night, even making parts for it. When I was little, I'd go help him, and I got used to soot when he was busy making parts. And also when he shoved me up the chimney to clean it.

The first thing I saw was a counter, a wooden one, with an old man behind it. He had a stern look, but he looked kind at the same time. Beside him on the left hand side of the room was a young man, working hard, probably my age, on some type of hammer. I walked up to the counter and smiled.

"Ehrm, I'm the new farmer," I smiled at him. Might as well make a friend, even if it was an old man.

He smiled back at me and replied, "It's almost done. My young grandson is busy doing the last hammer." He nodded in the young mans' direction. I tried being polite and answered him, "I'm sure he's doing an amazing job."

At this, and to my surprise, the old man snorted. "My grandson?" he asked me, unbelievably. I was dumbstruck, what should I've said? That he was crap and he was making it horrible?

He shook his head and stood, walking towards the young man, oblivious to our conversation, or at least, trying to ignore us.

The old man leaned over the shoulder of his young grandson, and the young man was completely unaware he was there, until he turned his head slightly, resulting in him dropping the hammer.

"What the hell gramps!" he shouted at his grandfather, looking at his hand, which was possibly burnt. The old man took no notice of him, only the tool now lying on the floor, at which he sighed and tutted at.

"Gray, Gray," he sighed, and I took it that it was the grandson's name, "I tell you to do one simple job, to finish this hammer because my back was sore, and this is what we get? A pathetic excuse for one?"

I stood there slightly gawping, staring at the old man in disbelief; how could he tell his grandson that?

"It would have been better old man, if you hadn't freaking crept up on me like a freaking stalker that you freaking are!" Gray retorted.

The old man sighed and walked back over to the counter, and picked up a rucksack, which looked pretty heavy, and placed the hammer inside.

"Here," he told me handing the rucksack to me, and I was right, it was heavy, but not too heavy, "If you ever have any spare vegetables I'd be more than happy to buy them. My name is Saibara and this is my grandson Gray."  
Gray gave me a dirty look and lowered his hat. What was his problem?  
"Hey," I said, but he still was unresponsive as he walked past me and headed for the door.

"Gramps, I'm getting out of here. You made me work over time and this is freaking hell. See ya." He walked past me, keeping his head down, and only lifting his head to make sure not to bash into me. And that's when I saw them; he had the most sea crystal blue eyes I had ever seen which pierced his light skin, and he had a strange colour of hair; it was bronze.

It was only a split second before he opened the door and the same bell melody sang out, and with a slam, he was gone.

"Ah, you will have to forgive him, he's very hot headed. He stays at the inn, and not with me, thankfully. Have a safe trip home," the man practically shoved me out before I could say anything. How rude was that?

When I stepped, or rather shoved, outside, Chelsea was talking with another old man, and there was a small girl beside him. How many old geezers were here?

"Finally, Claire!" she laughed and pulled me beside her. I studied the old man; he has big glasses, a small amount of fluff, rather than hair was planted on his head, and he had some liver spots.

"This is Barley," she told me, and I shook his hand, "And this is May." I looked at the little girl who had black hair which were pleated and smiled. At this she hid behind Barley.

"Barley has a pet dog Hanna, and he gets dog food, and he said he would be happy to supply you with some."

"Yes," the old man smiled at me, "I just need the money to buy them. It's not much, but I've got a couple extra bags at home, and I've heard you have quite a few mouths to feed, including cats. I'm afraid I can't get cat food, but what I can do is give you this rod and you can go fishing for your cats." He handed me a wooden fishing rod, something which I'd never used in my entire life. I thanked him, and surprisingly, it was a fold up rod, so I tucked it away in my rucksack. A fold up rod was very strange, but then again, so far this town was far from ordinary.

"If you would like we could go get the food now," he asked me from behind his glasses. I nodded, "Yes, thank you so much, I don't know how I can repay you!"

"Well, you could always play with May, she's awfully lonely, or you could supply me with some vegetables, you know, to keep me big an' strong," he joked, making superman actions. There was a small giggle behind him, and to my surprise, it was May, laughing at the man.

"Grandpa, you're not superman," she laughed even more. Barley raised his eyebrows at this.

"I'm not? Then how come," he said, picking the little girl up, "I can lift you with my amazing powers? And zoom like an aeroplane?" He put her on his shoulders and ran down the street, with amazing speed. This town was getting crazier by the minute, in a good way.

Halfway down the path, Barley turned around and signalled us to follow. Cautiously we did, afraid that he might turn into the incredible hulk and drag us along. I voiced the thought to Chels, and she was in a laughing fit.

She was still in giggles and wiping tears from her eyes when we reached Barley's farm further down the path. Barley just raised a questioning eyebrow but said nothing, chuckling.

He led us inside, and we were greeted by Hanna, his pet dog. She was such a lovely dog, but she was in the middle of her life, and not as fluffy as my dogs, but still, she was kind and well behaved, other than my own ones. I made a mental note to train them, even though the thought was probably worse than taming a wild bull.

Barley led us round back, where there were three jumbo sized food bags.

"I think these should keep you going," he told us.

---

"Thank again, Barley!" we waved the old man goodbye as we walked back into the house. The food was stored in the closet, and the pups were all hyper and were let loose in the living room, where Toast and Asia slept on the bay window.

Chelsea was sitting on the floor, playing with the puppies. I walked over to my bed and dropped my fully equipped rucksack down onto the bed, and glanced at the clock. A whole hour had gone by? It seemed impossible; but it was the truth. I had an hour with my best friend left. I walked over into the kitchen and opened a drawer, looking for a permanent marker. I soon found it, in amongst some random pencils and rubbers. I bounced back over to Chelsea, who was still sitting on the floor cross legged. I was going to make her last hour memorable.

"Chels," I began sitting beside her, "I want you to help me name these pups."

Her face lit up, and I sat beside her, also crossed legged. Before I had the pups, they had all been taught to respond to a whistle and sit obediently, which would be a bonus.  
"Are you sure?" she asked me. I nodded; there was no way she was getting out of this.

I let out a whistle, which wasn't very strong, but nonetheless a whistle. The fearsome five turned around with their ears cocked, and came bounding before us, each trying to climb over the next. In a matter of seconds, they were all sitting in front of us.  
Chelsea picked up the black pup with the neon green collar.  
"I want to name this one!" she said, cuddling the puppy. I lifted it out of her hands and placed it on mine, and opened the black permanent marker pen.

"Well?" I asked her, getting ready to write on the neon green collar.

"Ehrm… How about… Astrix?" I scribbled the name on as neat as I could and let the pup go and Astrix happily bounded back towards the bedroom, to continue exploring under my bed.

I picked up the white one and got poised for writing a name on the grey collar.  
"I don't know… Minnie? Daisy? Pocahontas?" Chels shrugged. She really could be hopeless sometimes.  
"How about Astra?" I wrote the name down before she could object, and let Astra go. She went bounding back into their special room to probably get a drink of milk.

Chelsea grabbed the fluffy one, and handed him to me, and I took him willingly. I once again took my position of getting ready to write on his purple collar.

"I know what we could call it," Chels smiled as she said the name, "Polo." It was an adorable name, I had to admit. I wrote on the collar and let him go, and soon he was exploring under the couch.

That only left the two huge pups, who were still sitting there obediently. I took the grey patchy one, and mused over a name for it. Suddenly it hit me, a beautiful name for a graceful pup. I scrawled it down and Chelsea grabbed her and looked at what the name was.

"Echo?" she read out before laughing and letting the pup go. I just shrugged my shoulders; it was a cute name.

Chels took the last one; the puppy with white and black and grey patches, and it also had one ear completely black, the other white with grey randomly splattered across it. It had a black collar, but it wasn't really that dark, so the writing would hopefully still be visible.

"Can we call it Jett?" Chels asked me and I complied. I might as well make her last wish come true. Gosh, I was making it sound like she was on her death bed. I laughed as I let the puppy go, and glanced at the clock. It was almost time for her to board the ferry.

- - -

We walked slowly on the beach, letting our feet sink into the sand. It was a beautiful beach; the sand was lush, the sea was crystal blue, and the clouds were even put cotton candy to shame. I wasn't paying much attention though, Chelsea was leaving. The ferry was docked at the dock, and she gave her suitcase to the captain as he welcomed her on board in an Australian accent.

"Well, I guess I'll see you soon," Chelsea smiled at me, and I smiled back before we hugged like we never hugged before. We were just parting as the captain shouted, "All aboard!"

She got on, and waved, and waved, with a sad smile planted and I waved back until she was just a speck in the distance. Then, I turned back, and walked the long walk back to my house, and back to my new life.

* * *

**_Ahh, well... This is my first fanfic, hopefully it wasn't too bad. I thought the ending was pretty rushed, so please tell me if you thought so too, and when I get the chance I'll change it a bit.. :) _**

**_I hope it was okay... Please read and review!  
And no silent readers - even though I am a notorious one myself. I'll try to get the next chapter up soon.. But I take ages to write, so...  
And yes, Claire has five dogs and two cats :D  
Amazing, yes?_**

_Gray Cloud.  
_


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